Kickstarter: Djoclate II Mini Bluetooth DJ Mixer

Add a couple of music sources and a Bluetooth speaker to the Pepperdecks Djoclate II and you've got an instant party...

Here's a cool little idea that could do with your help on Kickstarter, if you fancy owning one. It's called the Pepperdecks Djoclate II, and it's a tiny USB-charged DJ mixer for two sources, designed for simple mixing at impromptu parties, to save the old iPod plug/unplug routine with long gaps that always seems to happen at such events. You plug two portable music devices (MP3 players, phones, iPods etc) into it, and it gives you headphones cueing, bass kill switches for a little bit of DJ drama, and even Bluetooth-out for wireless feeding to external speakers.

It looks like a nice bit of design, as well as a novel little idea.

Of course you're not going to want to attempt beatmatching on it, but for its stated purpose it will do the job well, and we for one would love to have had such a device at some of the "after pub" parties we've ended up in. Plus, it looks like a really nice little bit of design. You can hardwire it to the external speakers too if you wish, and it will shop with 2 x 3.5mm audio cables and a mini-USB for charging.

The company sold over 2,000 of the original Djoclate (the world is a play on "chocolate", at least in Dutch it is!), but this one crucially adds the all-important headphones monitoring that even this level of simple DJing can benefit hugely from.

Want one? It'll cost you around US$80 if you sign up to their Kickstarter now.

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• A version of this article first appeared last weekend but was deleted from the site due to reasons outside of our control.

Does this look like a cool little device to you? Would you be happy to be the hero of the party and get the music going by whipping one of these out? Let us know in the comments...

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Comments

The snobby professional DJ in me says "novelty", but the tech lover in me goes "ooooh! I want!"

In all honesty though, this looks like a way cool little piece of kit. The inclusion of Bluetooth connectivity, headphone cueing, and pre amp into this tiny package is phenomenal. And with the myriad of free iOS and android DJ apps out there, beat matching and legitimate DJing on this is totally doable. I wish these guys the best of luck, it's people like them who are thinking outside the box that are helping to push the boundaries of DJing

It seems there are some serious tools being made right now and then there are some real kitchy toys that have no reason to exist other than to simply be something quirky that someone can say "I've got one of these." It's as though everyone into digital DJing is a Shark, it's "Shark Week", and someone dumped "tech blood" into the water. I sometimes think that there are people who don't care if people are happy with their purchases, just as long as the companies get their money.

Let's think on this for a minute to figure out what really has value and what doesn't.

Honestly, I think these Kickstarter projects are about 3 years behind where they should be and the ones that are there don't push far enough to really "disrupt" (as the kids like to say these days) the status quo, so who does this gadget really serve?

I think this product is targeted at someone who thinks that bluetooth speakers are the ultimate way to go (and thinks "wires are so last generation") and someone who really doesn't care about the quality of their mix just that they're doing it with the newest toy on the market.

This device may take two sources and act like a very small form-factor, mixer, but it only has two up-faders and that's not always optimal for mixing. The bass-Kill button (per channel) seems like it was strangely thrown in to the package simply because someone decided to put it there, not that it was part of some well-thought-out idea. the "Listen" switch looks like it's going to break in about 100 switches because (experience with these types of switches) they're sub-optimal for this purpose.

So this device may be only $80, but you can get an Alesis S-6 6-Channel Compact Mixer for $70 and that mixer has a 3 band EQ (per channel) and XLR Stereo outs. Stereo Bluetooth transmitters vary in price but start around $20. This kit is trying to provide a cheap solution to a made-up problem and it doesn't do a service to anyone who would purchase it... at least not for long.

Correct. To be fair, I shouldn't just call out the problem, I should also call out a potential solution. I think what this device is attempting to do is bundle a mixer with a bluetooth transmitter. I think we can all agree that the mixer is substandard (in build and functionality) and it won't stand up to any real use. If this project is to move forward, the mixer has to be built better and have the standard features a DJ would want. Bass Kill is not as important as a 3-band EQ and the "Listen" functionality should have the option to hear both at the same time, otherwise you're not really DJing, you're just playing back uncoordinated tracks.

The bluetooth audio transmitter is still a gimmick (right now) because there aren't a lot of bluetooth speakers worth using over regular "wired" speakers. This is one area where old technology is better than new technology and it will remain this way for a long time because of the practicality of wired speakers in real-world situations.

Finally, both of these devices by themselves are high-replacement rate hardware. If any part breaks, the whole unit loses value. In a couple of years something wireless will be better (making the bluetooth part obsolete) and you'll want real mixer features as soon as you plug this in.

If I had to guess, the person who came up with this idea probably had drinks with a friend and decided they could make something that could serve an untapped part of the market, but failed to fully understand the needs of the people they would be selling the device to. Honestly, I think anyone seriously thinking about this solution would be better served by getting a used DJ mixer and a bluetooth transmitter and plugging the transmitter into the outputs.

I fully agree with DJTiger's sentiment, is quite the novel idea, but not one to be taken seriously by the serious DJ's, a bedroom DJ who does house parties for a few friends on occasion would gladly have some level of use for this. As for adding this to my(or any professional/semi-professional) kit, i choose no.

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